


Starting Now

by ideallyqualia



Series: Rare Pairs [68]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Canon Universe, Established Relationship, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-22
Updated: 2016-10-22
Packaged: 2018-08-23 23:00:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,203
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8346211
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ideallyqualia/pseuds/ideallyqualia
Summary: Shirabu and Yamagata have been here before, but also when they met.





	

**Author's Note:**

> i wanted to give this ship a spin, and i'm glad now that i've realized there isn't even any content out there (to my knowledge).

Shirabu waited patiently beside Yamagata in the locker room. Yamagata tended to take his time, not on purpose, but as a natural result of talking to Reon, Tendou, and Ushijima. And Shirabu had to find a comfortable place among the lockers, lean against them, and wait.

"Yamagata, Tendou, are you going to stay here forever?" Shirabu asked to interrupt them.

Tendou faced him. "Here? Forever? But I'm graduating this year."

Shirabu stared at him.

Yamagata laughed and pushed at Tendou's shoulder. "Get the hint, Satori."

"What? Oh. Fine. Yeah, I get it." Tendou turned and crossed his arms. Instead of leaving, he paused. "I know when I'm not wanted."

"You're both wrong," Shirabu said. "Yamagata, hurry up."

"I don't know what that's supposed to say about me if it's not that I'm not wanted."

"I don't really care." Shirabu angled to face Yamagata completely and ignore Tendou. "I think it's going to rain soon."

"Alright, let's get going, then." Yamagata tied his shoes and stood. He grabbed his school bag and followed Shirabu out.

At the doorway, Shirabu deflated. "It's already raining."

Darkness swallowed up almost everything in the distance, in different shades of darkness, from the night sky, street, and thick clouds. Raindrops managed to shine under lamppost lights.

Yamagata held out his umbrella. "We can share mine--"

Shirabu flicked his open and moved it above his head. "I have my own."

Yamagata smiled, his mouth quirking in a twitch. His umbrella swayed lower to the side, and he brushed his hand over his hair. "Using separate umbrellas isn't that romantic."

"I don't want to get wet. That's even less romantic." Shirabu looked at Yamagata to gauge the size of his umbrella. "I don't think yours can fit us both."

"You're probably right." Yamagata stepped out onto the parking lot, the raindrops pattering on his umbrella with soft immediacy. Shirabu followed at a slower pace.

Almost every time, no matter what Yamagata did, Shirabu drifted slightly behind at his side. Yamagata noticed a few practices into his second year, when Shirabu had just joined the team. Shirabu liked to walk after someone's side, and with anyone. It struck Yamagata as something _odd_ and unexplainable, and then he stuck to it, and couldn't explain why he did that, either.

It didn't have any applicable quality until Yamagata had felt Shirabu tug his sleeve, once, from that angle. _Then_ he noticed the details, Shirabu following on it with everyone, a casual light touch, as casual as anyone gave anyone, except Yamagata found his eyes wandering specifically for Shirabu. Drifting behind someone gave Shirabu an easy reach for a small tug, or a yank sometimes, in Tendou's case.

Shirabu's umbrella bumped into his, a consequence of the wind.

"I think I like the rain, but actually getting wet from it is _disgusting_ ," Shirabu said. He pointed at a tree as they passed it. "One time I saw a couple sitting there late at night, in the dark, and it was _raining_."

"Under the tree?"

"Yeah. And there's barely any branches on it, so you know they really got wet."

"Alright, that's...really bad," Yamagata said.

"Every time I think of anything romantic and related to the rain, that's what I think of."

"Kenjirou..." Yamagata's voice started serious and soft, but he cut himself off with a laugh. "You have a comeback for everything."

"It's not a comeback. It's just an explanation."

"Satori would call it a 'tragic backstory'."

"Not even close to it," Shirabu said.

Yamagata chuckled. "I know."

They came to the dorms, and Yamagata pushed the door and held it open with his foot as he folded his umbrella back. Shirabu slid under his arms to get inside.

When Yamagata turned around, Shirabu was gone. Yamagata continued to his room and found him lying on the bed, his arms around a pillow and his legs across another one.

Yamagata let his school bag slip down his arm and fall on the floor next to Shirabu's. A pause of silence passed as he looked over Shirabu.

Shirabu rolled over. "I'm tired."

"I can tell." Yamagata flopped on the bed and landed next to him. "I'm exhausted, too."

"Stop, you're shaking the bed," Shirabu said. His voice muted the meaning with his half-heartedness, lacking the actual desire to make him stop.

Yamagata scooted closer. "If I'm tired too, then you should indulge me and let me get closer."

"No."

"Come on," Yamagata said, his voice drawing out into a whine.

He drifted to Shirabu's side, against the force of Shirabu's hands pushing on his chest. Shirabu's attempt was half-hearted, too, an excuse to just place his hands on him. Yamagata gathered him to his chest.

"You're going to crush me."

"I'm barely holding you."

Yamagata's arms remained loose around Shirabu, accommodating him and his pillow. Shirabu sighed.

"Hold me tighter, then, so I can complain."

"I can't give you _ammunition_..." Yamagata directed his voice downward, into Shirabu's head, and Shirabu felt the breath from his words. Yamagata was speaking quieter now, but the closeness of his voice added another depth.

Shirabu twisted and moved to kiss him. He misjudged the distance and ended up with his face in Yamagata's chest.

Yamagata laughed. "What're you doing?"

Shirabu pulled away, leaning back and looking him in the eyes. "I'm...you know what I mean."

He shimmied to meet Yamagata's height, and he kissed his neck, falling in softly. His hands travelled to Yamagata's shirt collar and held it. His lips brushed Yamagata's skin, touch light like the afterglow of a lamp, or an echo, or the fading warmth of a coffee mug, there but only there in barely being there.

Shirabu continued up to his ear and rested there. His hand reached up to Yamagata's hair, his fingers spreading and sifting, burying in his hair. Yamagata kissed the side of his arm as he reached.

Shirabu knew that Yamagata liked when Shirabu played with his hair. Shirabu held an observant sensitivity in touch, and he knew its pleasantness from experience -- and Yamagata liking the hair touch, too, was from experience. Nothing can _actually_ be felt from pinching hair together and toying with it, but Shirabu extracted the feeling in the faint rustling sound. And if it's tugged slight enough, it can still be felt, in a warm pressure on the head.

Yamagata moved down and kissed him on his mouth. For a moment, Shirabu remained silent, his lips slightly open to the sound of Yamagata's wordless mumbles.

Shirabu stretched, and the movement broke them apart.

"I really am tired. I think I'm going to nap before I do any homework."

"It's already nighttime," Yamagata said. "Are you really going to sleep before you sleep?"

Shirabu closed his eyes and turned his head until his cheek returned to Yamagata's chest. "I'll be awake."

"Then it's not a nap."

"I'm never asleep when I nap."

"Kenjirou...I don't think you've ever had a real nap..."

"Sure I have. You're not really asleep when you take a nap, but you're not awake, either."

Yamagata placed his hand over Shirabu's head and swept his bangs away. "You're going to fall asleep."

"I don't think so."

Fifteen minutes later, Shirabu fell asleep.

**Author's Note:**

> (General A/N that exists at the end of all my fics): I find unsolicited concrit really rude, I'm not looking for any. Please don't tell me someone was OOC/something happened you didn't like/it's too short/etc. in any bookmarks or comments.


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